While most believe Zach Top came out of the womb picking a guitar, this is actually not the first instrument the Washington state native picked up.
Zach Top recently spoke with Billboard and opened up about the start of his musical journey. If you have been a loyal follower of Top, you know that he got his start playing bluegrass before diving into his reminiscent ’90s country sound. Top was a member of his family band that formed when he was 7.
Because of his bluegrass background, Top can pick a guitar like it was born in his hand.
@countrywestern094 A very young Zach Top and North Country. Somebody long ago also started in bluegrass and transitioned to country music, If you know you know. #fy #trending #foryoupage #fyp #viral ♬ original sound – ROWDY
However, Zach Top’s first instrument was not a guitar… but a piano. During his Billboard interview, Top shared that he endured years of piano lessons, even though he was not keen on it.
“I was playing piano before I was playing guitar. But, for whatever reason, I never had a lot of interest in Chopin and Bach and Beethoven and stuff like that. If somebody could have taught me to play piano like (Hargus) ‘Pig’ Robbins, maybe I would have been excited about that, but the style of music I was into guitar lent itself more to that, I guess.
I kicked and screamed through… shoot, seven or eight years it must’ve been of piano lessons, and they (his parents) finally gave up on that, I guess.
I love guitar. I’ve played probably from the time that I was seven to fifteen, I played guitar for, shoot, two to three hours a day probably. I just loved it.”
Now, Zach Top moaning a sad Western song while playing like Pig Robbins, the legendary session keyboard player, THAT is something I can get behind. Maybe ZT should consider dusting off his piano skills to make this thought become a reality.
Even though ZT started playing piano, given the way he plays guitar, there’s no question in my mind that guitar is his instrument. Sometimes, the stars align, and his distaste for piano and interest in guitar were definitely a set-up for his future career.
After ZT picked up a guitar, his musical career started as he and his siblings formed their bluegrass band. His sisters played fiddle and bass, one of his brothers played mandolin, while ZT played acoustic. However, when they all began to play instruments, they did not intend to start a band; they were all learning separately. After all his siblings and he got the basics down, their family friend, who was also their orthodontist, inspired them to form a four-piece band.
From there, the rest is history for Zach Top. He has made his name known in the country music community and spearheaded the movement to return the genre’s sound to its traditional roots.
Thank goodness ZT switched from piano to guitar. Could you imagine our lives without “I Never Lie” in it?
